Next Spring I want to visit Rome, Istanbul, and Budapest - not necessarily in that order.

We will likely fly from Canada to London and try to get a low cost airline to these 3 cities. I know I can take Easyjet from London to Istanbul or to Rome, but then how to get from Rome or Istanbul to the other cities??

Is anyone able to give me some advice on which city to go first - second and third to make the route easier. Money is of course a concern because I do not want to fly Alitalia or BA and spend $500-600 to fly from London to Rome etc. etc. I am looking at low-cost airline (Ryan Air, Easyjet ...) and train.

Thanks

Hi John - Wizz Air and Sky Europe are budget operators between Budapest and Rome:

www.wizzair.com

http://www1.skyeurope.com/en/

Try www.whichbudget.com for budget flights to/from Istambul.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Thanks Steve. I do know about Whichbudget (and the WizzAir, SkyEurope's flight between Rome and Budapest).

The leg that gives me the most headache is Istanbul - Budapest.

Turkish Airline and Condor (?) both fly the route, but the cost is ~S$300, so I am looking for something cheaper. If that is the cheapest I can find - we'll have to bite the bullet!

There appears to be no direct train: from Budapest I can take a train to Bucharest, then change into another train which originates in Munich to get to Istanbul. I also heard that it will take more than 30 hours for the total journey (on the train, not counting time spent on changing station).

So I'm still researching ... renting a car???

Always type too fast .. I meant ~US$300.

That leg throws me too.

It might be cheaper to go via somewhere else - e.g Bergamo, Germany, Bucharest ... - if you don't mind the travelling.

Myair flies Istambul-Bergamo
Sky Europe flies Bergamo-Budapest

Depends on timing I guess ...

It would be a pain but it could well be cheaper to go back via London

Hope someone else can come up with other ideas ...

Steve

John - Istambul-Rome (- or vice versa) via Bergamo might work.

Ryanair flies Bergamo-Rome 3 times daily (- current best price € 30 + tax)

Steve

Thanks Steve.

Do you or does anyone know if there is a sea option from Rome to Istanbul? I saw lots of 9-day, 12-day luxury cruise between Rome and Istanbul; that's not what I want.

But I heard that one can travel by sea from Rome to Istanbul on a small liner that takes 2 days, and costs about $500.

Malev flies from Istanbul to Budapest for 150E.

That's one-way